Lima Days 14/15: Last Day(s) - And the Bomb!

Wednesday, December 23

Before we get to my Meals, here's a ready-to-cook Pig at the Supermarket.

They had a bunch of stuff all prepped for Christmas Meals.

I started the morning with the same Hotel Breakfast as yesterday.

I know that it is free, but I really should pass on anything but the coffee when I stay in a hotel in Lima. Everything else I could buy is a zillion times better.

Alex and I were having Lunch later, so I bought a bag of Chifles on the street to tide me over.

We drive to Chorrillos to re-visit El Marati. I knew that Alex would get a kick out of the Octopus.

In the name of more photo opportunities, I passed on the Octopus (Alex ordered that), and I had the Parihuela (Seafood Soup) and a Tacu Tacu Norteno.

Alex really loved the Pulpo (no surprise there). My Soup was excellent, and the Tacu Tacu, which is a Rice & Bean Patty, topped with (in this case) Mixed Seafood in some kind of Sauce, and then Extra-Topped with a Fish Filet, was really great. I polished off the Soup, and ate half of the Tacu Tacu. My doorman fully appreciated the other half when I got back to the apartment.

When we left the restaurant, we decided that "there is always room for a Cremolada." Luckily, there was a Cremolada stand right outside the restaurant.

Cremoladas are like Slurpees, only much, much better. And they come in all kinds of Fruit Flavors. And they cost less than a Dollar. Alex and I both chose Lucuma for our Desserts.

Lucuma is a local Fruit that they use for a lot of different things here in Peru.

Amazingly, I wasn't hungry for the rest of the day. Sandra came over at around 8:00, and I bundled her into a taxi and we headed back to Astrid y Gaston, this time, just for Dessert.

I explained to the hostess what we wanted, offered to sit at the bar, but she put us at a table front and center. I had the same waitress from the other day, and we ordered Coffee and... The Chocolate Bomb. She smiled, remembering that I really wanted the Bomb last week, but I was alone and passed. I explained that I brought help with me this time.

The Bomb arrives.

It was a Chocolate colored shell this time, and they explained that -- for the holiday -- it was filled with things that you would normally find in a Panneton - dried Fruits and stuff like that.

As an added bonus, they saw my joy and let me do the Breaking of the Bomb.

It was wonderfully wonderful, and Sandra and I put away about half of it. Me, more than her.

That was a pretty fitting finale to this Lima trip.

Thursday, December 24

My flight was at 10:00 am on Thursday, so I was at the airport early and stopped for Breakfast at the airport branch of Cafeladeria 4d. They are a -- I use this term a lot, and there has to be a better one -- small chain of Diners in Lima. I had a final Peruvian Breakfast.

I had a Cafe con Leche, a Tamale Sandwich, and an Empanada filled with Chicken and Mushrooms.

That was it for the trip. I passed on the food on the airplane, and got home in time for Christmas.

Lima Day 13: Sausage, Pork and... Hard Rock

Tuesday, December 22

We had a hotel Breakfast this morning. Pretty un-Peruvian, but nothing compared to what was to come later.

I had a Ham, Egg, and Cheese Sandwich with a Bowl of Fruit on the side. Sandra had the same, without the Eggs.

Decidedly unexciting.

Lunch, however, was very exciting. In my Internet nosing around, I discovered a place called La Cilindrada de Pedrito. If their website was to be believed, they grill all these different meats and sell them to you -- all you need is money.

So, finding it was a little adventure. It is in a neighborhood that I'm not in all that often, so I took a bus to get close, and explored the dozen blocks or so between the bus station and the restaurant. Go figure -- I discovered a bunch of new places to eat and shop, and now I have a new place that I want to live ;)

The restaurant is in what appears to be a Garage. There are tables inside, and it opens up to an outside area for the grills.

Anyway, it's all true -- they grill pretty much anything. I took a couple of pictures; this isn't a tourist place, so they weren't as charmed by my camerawork as some restaurants.

There were more grills going, but they wanted me to sit down.

As to what we ate, we each had a Sausage, we split a Grilled Plantain, and we ordered a quarter Chicken, some Pork, and a half a Duck.

By 'we,' I meant that Sandra had a Sausage, a taste of the Plantain, and the Chicken. I had the rest; it's not like I was going to share my Duck.

It was all really good except, sadly, the Duck. It was drier than I prefer, but maybe that's what happens when they grill it. Regardless, I will return.

For Dinner, Sandra really, really wanted to eat at the Hard Rock Cafe. There's one in Lima, and she's fascinated with the concept.

This one is in the Jockey Plaza Mall, which is probably the most upscale mall in the country. It was packed with Christmas shoppers, and we killed an hour walking around. This being Peru, there was not only a Food Court, but a separate level that was the, er, Restaurant Court... there's plenty of places to eat there.

Well, the Hard Rock menu is the same all over the world, so you know what our choices were. I needed to emotionally prepare for my return to the USA, so I had the Red, White and Blue Burger. Sandra ordered the Chicken Wings.

It was, well, Hard Rock Food. Of course, seeing how these were made by Peruvian chefs, it was top-notch Hard Rock Food, but still Hard Rock Food.

That was it for the day. One full day left.

Lima Day 12: I'm in A Rut, But What a Rut!

Monday, December 21

If I had to eat like this every day, then well, I would eat like this every day. I broke no new ground, but had three great Meals.

First, I had another of the seemingly never-ending supply of Tamales in my apartment. They cost 75 cents on the street. And the Bread is another dime.

For Lunch, I took a bus, and another bus, and wound up at El Characato de Oro. They're a restaurant that serves food traditionally from the city of Arequepa, which is in the southern part of the country. Luckily for me, I like Arequipian Food. I had a Rocoto Relleno and Adobo de Cerdo.

Rocoto Rellenos were reportedly invented in Arequipa, and this was an excellent representative. Adobo is a way of preparing Pork. An fabulous way, I may add. As far as I understand, it is something that people usually only eat on Sundays, but the restaurant had a sign up announcing that they had Adobo. I suspect that it was leftovers, but I didn't ask. It was fabulous. You're supposed to dip the Bread into the Soup, so what I did was: dip the Bread into the Soup.

For Dessert, I had the Pride of Arequipa: Queso Helado.

I don't know if it is better than the version at Panchita, but it is wonderful all on its own.


I spend a lot of time when I should be working searching the Internet for places to eat in Lima. During one of my searches, I discovered Nanka. They're all the way over on the other side of town, but the website and menu looked good, and they had some nice reviews on Trip Advisor (unlike the Tourist Trap last week, I felt that I could trust these reviews, mostly because of the restaurant's location), but also because they featured Rice and Duck as one of the first pictures on their site. They claim to be organically-based, so that was a plus, I hoped.

It's far, and Christmas week traffic is even worse than regular Lima traffic, so it takes Sandra and I an hour to go the nine or ten miles to the restaurant. But it turns out it was worth the effort. The place is beautiful, the service was excellent, and the food was very, very good.

We started by sharing two Appetizers. The first was Quinua Croquettes, and the second was Grilled Octopus.

The Croquettes tasted like, well, Croquettes. They came with two dipping sauces, on Sweet and one Spicy (she's pointing at the Sweet one). Sandra and I were fans of the Spicy one.

When I say that 'we' spit the Octopus plate, what I mean is "I had 85% of the Octopus.' It was excellent.

For our Main Courses, Sandra had the Gnocchi Andino, which she said was delicious. And very Green! I had... get ready... Rice with Duck.

The Duck, in this case, was de-boned and placed on top of the Rice. The Rice itself was excellent, and I wound up eating most of it before even starting on the Duck.

I would certainly return to Nanka, but not during a holiday season; the traffic was just too much to deal with.

That's it for the day.

Lima Day 11: Kids' Christmas Party. And Duck

Sunday, December 20

Well, today is the Kids Christmas Party. I am involved with a group call Peruanos Solidarios, and they collect money all year, and then throw a party in a poor neighborhood outside of Lima. The kids get Chocolate Milk, Cake, a show, and every kid gets a wrapped gift. The people who live here don't have running water, so wrapped presents are out of the question. I will post a huge album on my Facebook page, but for now, here's a few photos of cute, happy kids. Thanks to everyone who kicked in a few dollars, this was a big success. I encourage anyone who is interested to get in touch with me, and try to come down next year to help throw the party -- it's real rewarding.

There were more of us than were in this picture, but this one came out well. It was a great day. Really great.

Now, the big question... what did I eat?

Well, before I left, I had a Tamale Sandwich. They're easy and delicious. And virtually free.

As part of the party planning, we pay the people who live there to make a Lunch for the team. It cost next to nothing, and it makes things much easier, because there's nowhere to buy food in the immediate area. We had Bowls of Aguadito, which is a type of Soup, and then -- wait for it -- Rice and Duck! :D

Now, when I went out back, there was a farm with Chickens, Pigs and... Ducks. We had Rice with Duck for Lunch. I'm just sayin'

That was it until after the party. I *may* have had a piece of Paneton, but I really don't remember. I can't imagine not having a piece.

Once we got back to Miraflores, Sandra, Alex and I went to Pizza Mavery to get a bite. They're open Sunday night, which is a big deal around here.

I had two Empanadas and some Pizza, Sandra had Fettuccini, and Alex went for the Pizza.

My Empanadas were filled with Crabmeat and Cheese, Shrimps and Cheese, and my Pizza was topped with Lomo Saltado. Sandra liked her Pasta (she's a big fan), and Alex finished his Pizza 'Caribe.' He enjoyed himself; he just hates taking Blog Photos.

That was it for the day. After the meal, it was off to bed for some well-deserved sleep.